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Forgot to comment on the cows! < MOO! >

I worked one summer on a dairy farm, another on a cattle ranch. The whole idea with the beef cattle was to leave them alone to graze and get fat, so I didn't have much contact with them, I just rode and mended fence on a cute little QH roping horse (who got a snaffle bit and dressage training that summer - even though the cowboys laughed at me!) But I did not like the Holstein dairy cows and they did not like me . . . they struck me as both malevolent and stupid. OTOH, I loved the Jerseys, they were very sweet tempered and affectionate and we got along just fine. I never did work with Galloways - aren't they a Lowland Scots breed?

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/galloway/index.htm

Interesting.

The cow with the huge white midsection.

I had cattle when I had so many horses. I raised my own alfalfa hay. If it got rained on or for some other reason did not make horse hay, I put it in the cow barn.

I do not like cattle, but they are of great help to a horse farm. They graze more evenly and greatly improve the pasture.

They will eat the tough woody grass that the horse will not and that cuts way down on mowing.

As for ring work, I hate it. I am a big believer in the horse finding his own spot. Counting strides is not my bag.

Let the horse have a few wrecks and he will count his own strides.

I am well aware of the new methods. But I can inspect a ring in about two rounds. By that time, I have seen all I need to see and I am ready to go out.

I like to ride the kind of horse that starts measuring his strides 6 or 8 strides from the fence.

"syndicate stallions"

Holy Cow - Horses involved with the mob?
LOL! I've no clue about horses even though my mother has two of them. They drive me nuts though. We have a huge amount of land and I'd rather see cows grazing rather than two ' piggish ' horses tearing up the fields. What a mess those fields are.
I think the Galloways didn't come to the US until sometime after WWII. I really dont know where they originated but they are beautiful animals. I worked with Jerseys as well. Very friendly.
I rode a bicycle to and from work and along the last 1/2 mile was a stretch of filed where older calfs would be held. One summer a calf befriended me. She began mooing at me whenever I rode by, then started running along the fence as I biked by. Eventually she'd be waiting for me at the edge of the field in the morning and as soon as I'd come into view she'd start her routine: running along keeping up with the bike and mooing her head off. I got into the habit of stopping after work to give her something to eat or just play with her.
I really liked those cows. Herding them into the fields after the morning milking was a favorite chore of mine.